Monday, April 29, 2013

Episode 159 (4-29-13): "Smart Buoys" in the Chesapeake Bay

TRANSCRIPTFrom the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is
Virginia Water Radio for the week of April 29, 2013.

This week, we feature some of the Chesapeake Bay’s newest boating technology, teaching
about one of Virginia’s oldest
historic events—the April 1607 landing of English colonists at the point now
called Cape Henry. Have a listen for
about 30 seconds.

VOICE.

You’ve been listening to an excerpt from the phone and
online recording available for the First Landing buoy in the Chesapeake Bay Interpretive
Buoy System. Often called “smart buoys,”
these buoys provide current weather and water conditions at ten Bay locations,
from the Susquehanna River’s mouth near Havre de Grace, Maryland, to Cape Henry. The system is operated by the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. Along with wind speed and direction, wave
height, water temperature, and other valuable boating information, the buoys
provide geographic and historical information for the Captain John Smith
Chesapeake National Water Trail, which marks Smith’s explorations of the Bay
and several area rivers in 1608. You can
get information from the smart buoy system by phoning (877) 286-9229—that’s 877
Buoy Bay—or online at buoybay.noaa.gov.

For other water sounds and music, and for more Virginia
water information, visit our Web site at virginiawaterradio.org,
or call us at (540) 231-5463. From the
Virginia Water Resources Research Center in Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo,
thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

Acknowledgments and Sources: Voice excerpts were taken from the online audio files for the 10
locations of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA)
Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System (CBIBS), online at http://buoybay.noaa.gov/.
Information on the CBIBS system was also taken from that Web site. The phone number to access CBIBS buoys is (877)
286-9229 (877 BUOY BAY).

The CBIBS buoy locations, from north to south, are as
follows: Susquehanna River near Havre de Grace, Md.; Patapsco River, near
Baltimore, Md.; Annapolis, Md. (mouth of Severn River); upper Potomac River,
near Washington, D.C.; Gooses Reef, in the Bay channel off the mouth of the
Choptank River in Maryland; the Potomac River, near Point Lookout, Md.;
Stingray Point, near Deltaville, Va. (Middlesex County); in the James River
near Jamestown Island; Norfolk, Va.; and First Landing, near Cape Henry, Va. (City
of Virginia Beach).

Information about the Captain
John Smith Chesapeake National Water Trail (along with CBIBS buoys are
located) is available online at http://www.smithtrail.net/;
or contact the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Bay Office at 410 Severn
Ave., Suite 314, Annapolis, MD 21403; phone (410) 260-2470.

Welcome to Virginia Water Radio

This site includes audio files featuring sounds and music that relate to Virginia’s waters, from the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean. Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, which is solely responsible for the show's content. Thanks to George Wills of Blacksburg, Va., for designing the Virginia Water Radio logo.